Tech startup raises $1.4 million to help Pakistani talent get global exposure

LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO: Pakistani technology startup RemoteBase has raised almost Rs220 million in seed funding so that it can enable Pakistani software engineers and developers to get international exposure.

RemoteBase finds, hires, trains and places Pakistani software engineers and developers in Silicon Valley companies. 

The investment in the company, made by Pakistan-based Indus Valley Capital and US billionaire Tim Draper, will boost Pakistan's tech ecosystem and reflects a growing trend of Pakistani startups successfully raising capital.

Umar Saif, an MIT graduate who also worked in the Punjab Government and founded Plan9, a tech incubator that gave Pakistani startups exposure to investors in Silicon Valley, said: “I am super proud of Qasim and his team on the fund raise. Having seen him work in the past, I can see Remotebase playing a pivotal role in placing Pakistan on the global map.

"As companies go remote, they are looking to hire software engineers from all over the world and Pakistan can benefit from this immensely. Pakistani engineers are some of the most talented engineers I have worked with in the past. All they require is good training and direction, and I can see Remotebase doing that,” Saif added.

The founder of RemoteBase, Qasim Asad Salam, said his main goal was to help Pakistani engineers compete internationally and that remote working during COVID-19 made it possible.

Qasim said: "Pakistani talent has always amazed me. Engineers from Pakistan are on a par with the best engineers in the world. They just don’t have the right guidance or the right opportunities. With Remotebase, we want to change that.

"RemoteBase is all set to completely disrupt how work is done. Being a remote worker for most of my life I was always passionate about enabling people to build companies entirely in the cloud and giving them access to top talent from all around the globe. Where better to start the company from than Pakistan, a country where I have personally witnessed an immense amount of talent, and super hungry individuals just looking for opportunities to learn and grow,” Qasim added.

RemoteBase currently has 40 software engineers but the company plans to hire 150+ Pakistani engineers by the end of 2021 after gaining this investment.

US billionaire Tim Draper, who has previously invested in Skype, Twitter and Hotmail, believes that Remotebase has the potential to significantly disrupt the global tech ecosystem.

Draper told Geo News: “I am super proud of Qasim, Talha and their team on the fundraise. I can see Remotebase playing a pivotal role in placing Pakistan on the global map."

Co-founder of RemoteBase Talha Masood said: "No individual should be discriminated against in terms of race, colour, nationality or gender and the world should be made more inclusive as a whole.

“Working remotely my entire life with Silicon Valley companies has been an incredible ride. I had immense freedom, meaningful work and I got to learn from the best companies in the world. One went on to become a multi-billion dollar startup. I want other Pakistani engineers to have the same experiences and opportunities I had.”

With this fresh round of funding, Remotebase aims to hire more engineers, power Remotebase hackathons, and encourage women to get into tech through Remotebase for Women.